Labelling Theory on Crime and Deviance

To begin, Stephen Jones (1998) has received the policy implications of interactionist and labelling theories. First of all, he argues that they have two main implications. Initially they sugessted that as many types of behaviour as possible should be decriminalized. Secondly, they imply that, when the law has to intervene, it should try to avoid giving people a self-concept in which they view them selves as criminals. This might involve trying to keep people out of prison or warning people rather than prosecuting them. Both of these approches have had some influence. For example, in Britain the independent newspaper stated a campaign in 1997 to legalize cannabis. In countries such as the Netherlands some “soft” drugs have been effectively legalized. However, in Britain, the main impact of such thinking has probably been an juvenile justice. Jones suggests that there have been rather consistent polices in this area, butfor adults, the only measure of this nature was contained in the rehabilitation of offenders, once a period of time (which depended on the offense) had elapsed. Additionally as Jones Points out, such polices became less popular during the 1990's. IN some quarters there has been a reward emphasis on the public shaming of offenders in order to deter others. In terms of sociological theory in the 1960's, the interactionist view of deviance enjoyed wide popularity. For many sociologists, the work of writers such as Becker, Lemert and Goffman become the accepted, orthodox perspective on deviance. Nevertheless, In the 1970's it began to provoke strong criticism. Interactionist rallied to the defense of their work and attempted to show that the criticism were unjustified. The third major criticism of the interactionist perspective is that it is to deterministic. It assumes that once a person has been labblled, their deviance will inevitably become worse. The labbled person has no option but to get more and more involved in deviant...

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Howard Becker argued that deviance is not a quality of the act person commits, but rather a consequence of the application by others of the rules and sanctions to an “offender”, the deviant has been successfully associated with the label which means that the deviant behaviour is behaviour people label. Due to an individual being labelled it can have possible effects as a label defines a person as being a particular character and as it is not neutral, it has master status. Because of this an individual may internalise the label leading to self fulfilling prophecy. This may encourage further deviance. For example, drug addicts may turn to crime to support their...

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...Labelling and deviance in the media
Tabloid papers are renowned to label anyone with what one sees as a deviant label. Newspapers, magazines and even news reporters are either vocally or publishing such labels to a person or group who they have decided is of a deviant nature or differs in some way from what they deem as normal. Examples of such labels will follow later on in this report of how the media label people who they deem deviant or in fact just differ from the norm, and in turn, our society who either accept this label or even attach another. This report will aim to show who attaches the label and what the label means in terms of the person carrying the label and how labels can be negative and therefore damaging. This report will indeed include historical influences, however a more modern day approach and way of thinking will also be applied to bring labelling into the 21st century and understand where the labelling process and the deviant to which it is presented to now sit in our society.
Howard Becker has been seen to be one of the pioneers of the ‘labellingtheory’, his book, ‘Outsiders’, holds a quote which is now widely used across the academic spectrum when studying labelling and deviance, “…. social groups create deviance by making the rules whose infraction constitutes deviance and by applying those rules to...

...association theory………………..………………….2
Anomie theory……………………………………………………5
Conclusion……………………………………………………….11
References ………………………………………………………..13
INTRODUCTION
The crime rate is on the rise in Kenya some theories try to define these rising criminality in Kenya. Anomie theory and differential association theory best explain the rising criminality in Kenya like for example in Kenya many individuals are law abiding citizens this is according to Edwin Sutherland differential association theory. His theory gives priority to the power of social influences and learning experiences. Anomie theory refers to a situation in which cultural norms break down because of rapid change this is according to Durkheim. These 2 theories best explain the rising criminality in Kenya which has normally been due to common thinking that the rising criminality is mostly due to the wealth of the person while there are crimes committed by white collar including fraud and money laundering which are done by the higher in the society, for example people who live in Kibera are the same in likeliness to commit crime as the people who live in Muthaiga.
Differential Association Theory by Edwin Sutherland
Edwin Sutherland set out to develop a theory which would...

...﻿Usefulness of Labelling C&D
Labellingtheory and its theorists focus on the groups and/or individuals who were deemed to be criminal and labelled thus by society. Labelling theorists studied the various interactions between the ‘criminal' groups and individuals and the conformist society. Labellingtheory was quite popular in the 1960s and early 1970s, but then fell into decline—partly as a result of the mixed results of empirical research. This essay will go on to show the origins of labellingtheory, the theory itself and will show its strengths and weaknesses using various case-studies and examples.
Tannenbaum (1938) is widely regarded as the first labelling theorist. His main concept was the ‘dramatization of evil'. He stated that if a person is described as being a criminal then he automatically becomes one. Erwin Lamert (1951) founded the “societal Reaction” theory. This theory is widely credited to be the forerunner of the present day labellingtheory. His theory basically states that a person experiences social deviance in two phases. The first phase is known as the Primary deviance phase. The second is known as the Secondary deviance phase. According to Lemert, the primary deviance phase begins with...

...Using material from Item A and elsewhere, assess the usefulness of labellingtheory in explaining crime and deviance. (21 marks)
Labelling theorists are concerned with how and why certain people and actions come to be labelled as criminal or deviant, and what effects this has on those who are labelled as such. As stated in Item A, labellingtheory is focused with how individuals construct society based on their interactions with each other.
Becker emphasises the significance of crime being a social construct; an action only becomes criminal or deviant once society has labelled it so, and thus crime can be argued to be a social construction. He introduced the concept of a master label, referring to the label which a person is given which overrides all other labels. When a person is labelled as negatively, society tends to tend them as such, and this master label often becomes internalised, and thus a self-fulfilling prophecy occurs. The person accepts their label as a criminal or deviant, and this then leads to further crime as the person attempts to live up to their label. Young studied ‘hippie’ marijuana users in the 1970’s, and found support of Beckers idea of the master label. As they were labelled negatively by the police and further rejected by society, the hippies used their criminal identity as drug users to associate with one...

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Emile Durkheim, the ‘father’ of functionalism believed that crime played an important role in society. He described the organic analogy of society which describes that all parts of society are interdependent on each other. In order for any society to function properly, all parts of society must come together in a value consensus. This means that all individuals in society share the same norms and values. Durkheim also believed that crime is inevitable and a big part of any functioning society. He outlined two functions that crime performs in everyday society; these are boundary maintenance, and adaptation and social change.
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...﻿Crime Times
Many people over the years have tried to explain why there is crime in our society. Functionalists focus on the source of deviance in the nature of society rather than biological and psychological explanations. Every functionalist agrees that social control mechanisms e.g. the police are necessary to keep deviance in check and therefore protecting social order.
A main contributor to the functionalist theory of crime is Durkheim. He believed that society is based on a value consensus and that all members of society share a common culture that is a set of shared values, norms, beliefs and goals. Durkheim suggested that by society sharing the same culture created social solidarity, thereby binding individuals together and telling them what to strive for and how to conduct themselves.
According to Durkheim crime has 4 functions in society, the first being that crime and deviance is “inevitable and normal”. He suggested that crime is inevitable, normal and necessary for life. He said crime is inevitable because not everyone in society is going to be equally committed to the shared values and morals as we are all exposed to different influences. Durkheim gave the example of “even in a 'society of saints' with no crime at all, such high standards of behaviour would make even the smallest deviant...